Scoot tickets, as you probably know by now, are strictly non-refundable (with very limited exceptions for medical emergencies and bereavements).
This creates a dilemma for those who spot a good fare, but can’t confirm their plans just yet. Do you buy the ticket now and hope that everything works out? Or do you wait till things crystallise, at the risk of fares increasing in the meantime?
A few years ago, I shared a little-known way of getting Scoot to hold your fare for up to 24 hours, absolutely free.ย This involved selecting AXS as the payment method, since Scoot provided a grace period in view of the time needed toย travel down to a physical AXS kiosk.
Unfortunately, the AXS payment option has been recently removed, which puts an end to this concession.ย
How the “AXS hold” worked
First, some brief history, for those unfamiliar with this method.ย
Scoot used to offer an AXS payment option, intended for those without a credit or debit card. This option would appear for bookings that satisfied the following conditions:
- Regular fare
- Departing from Singapore at least 24 hours from booking time
- Value of booking is <S$2,000
- No insurance is included
- No voucher is redeemed
- Booking made through Scoot’s official website or mobile app
By selecting the AXS payment method, passengers would have:
- 12 hours to complete payment, if the flight departure date was within 3 days
- 24 hours to complete payment, if the flight departure date was more than 3 days away
In other words, by choosing AXS, you’d get an extra 12-24 hours to think things over, at no additional cost.ย
If your plans firmed up, you could head down to an AXS machine and pay for the fares as they were at the time of the booking. If your plans fell through, you could just let the booking automatically lapse, with no penalty.
Scoot removes AXS payment method
I recently noticed that AXS had been removed from the list of payment methods on the Scoot website.
The remaining options are PayNow (listed as a “popular choice”, no doubt because this costs Scoot the least!), PayPal, credit/debit card, or Google Pay.ย
You can also make payment with vouchers or KrisFlyer miles, though the latter represents terrible value and should be avoided under most circumstances.
I’m waiting for an official comment from Scoot, but my understanding is that the AXS option was removed at the end of June 2024. The exact removal date is more of an academic interest than anything else, really, because the headline here is thatย free fare holds are gone.
Conclusion
Scoot no longer accepts AXS payments, which puts an end to the free 12-24 hour reservation hold that this payment method allowed for.ย
Moreover, unlike Singapore Airlines, Scoot does not offer a paid option to secure your fare. Therefore, if you see an attractive fare, you either pull the trigger now to lock it in, or pray that it lasts long enough for you to finalise your plans.
This is a bit of a strange appendix, but I thought it’s still worth mentioning: you can still get a free 48 hour fare hold with Jetstar by selecting the SingPost option, which is offered provided there’s at least five days to go before departure.
